Vol01_08_Kyoung-joon Park

8/6/2019 Vol01_08_Kyoung-joon Park

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On the Problem

of the Origin of Cakravartin

Kyoung-joon Park *

Abstract

There are scholars who maintain on occasion that the original position of

Buddhism is not concerned with the real problems in society, politics, economy and

so on. However, examining the various stras we can find evidence that, historically,

Buddhism expressed very positive concerns about the actual problems facing society.

Such thought is well expressed in the idea of Cakravartin or Universal Emperor who

can realize the ideal empire by governing according to the Dharma, that is, the

highest Truth. This paper expounds on Cakravartin in order to establish a

foundation for studies in the political thought of Buddhism. Thus, in this paper, I

have scrutinized anew two kinds of conflicting hypothetical theories: The Problem ofthe Theory of the Pre-Buddha Age and the Post-Aoka Age. Accordingly I have

reached the conclusion that the archetype of Cakravartin was formed in the Buddhas

Age and it had greatly influenced the king Aoka, and conversely, after Aokas Age

it was inspired and developed by Aokas political and religious activities as a model.1

*Professor, Buddhist Studies/ Dongguk University

I. IntroductionThere are some people who think that the main concern of religions is

the otherworld rather than this world since they do, fundamentally, pursue

the ultimate reality. Especially as far as Buddhisms pursuit of the finalcessation or Nirv2!a from sa8s2ra, there has been some misunderstanding

that Buddhism is a kind of nihilistic thought. Therefore some scholars have

maintained at times that the original position of Buddhism is not concerned

with the real problems in society, politics, economy and so on. However


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through the stras, we can find evidence to the contrary. HistoricallyBuddhism expressed very positively concerns about the actual society,

politics and economic problems. Particularly, such thought is well expressed

in the idea of Cakravartin or Universal Emperor who can realize the ideal

empire through governing according to the Dharma, that is, the highest

Truth. Cakravartin, the actual leader of politics, is described in the same way

as the Buddha who is the spiritual leader of religion. Both have been seen

always as counterparts of each other or as indispensably interconnected.

Cakravartin is not different from the Buddha, in other words, we can say

that Cakravartin reflects the secular aspect of Buddha. These descriptions of

Buddha are illustrated in the vast literature written in various periods from

the Nikyas to later commentaries. With regard to those literatures, we can

guess that, of the greatest importance is the meaning and position of

Cakravartin in the history of Buddhism.

When we attempt to study the political thought of Buddhism, a

knowledge of Cakravartin is very necessary. Accordingly this paper aims at

considering Cakravartin in order to establish a foundation for studies in the

political thought of Buddhism. Thus, in this paper, I have scrutinized anew

two kinds of conflicting hypothetical theories.

II. The Origin of the Idea of CakravartinIn the literal sense of the word, Cakra-vartin, originally comes from the

Pli Cakkavattin, and means the noble emperor rolling the wheel. 1 It

characterizes an ideal to construct a perfectly peaceful empire in which

justice and compassion are culminated, just as a mystical wheel goes on to

the end of the world.

From what period did this idea arise? Today there is a conflict between

two theories; The theory of the Pre-Buddha Age and the theory of the Post-

Aoka Age.2 In the case of Korean Buddhist scholars, the former pre-

1

The word cakka means wheel, and vattin means rolling or controllingwhich is the adjective derived from the root vat same with v#t in Sanskrit. The

usage as cakka-vatti is because of declension.

2 In Pli tradition such as D6pava8sa and Mah2va8 sa, the period of Aoka is

considered as about two hundred years later from the Buddhas Parinibbna.

Whereas in Chinese sources such as Aokvadna, as about one hundred years

later from it.


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dominates.

1. The Problem of the Theory of the Pre-Buddha Age

Professor Dong-wha Kim states the following:

In India, before the Buddha was born, there spread abroad thelatter (the ideal of the great politician of wisdom). According to theStras in Early Buddhism, there are many stories concerningCakravartin (Dong-wha Kim, 1973: 33-34).

This attests to the idea that Cakravartin existed before the Buddha. Prof.

Jeong-sik Hong also gives an opinion as following:

Cakravartin is an ideal emperor who receives the treasure of thewheel from heaven, and governs his territory and people with the rightintention and the right law. So the fact that the ideal of Cakravartinappeared in the Buddhist Stras shows that the Buddhists in that timeconsidered their ideal emperor as Cakravartin and looked forward tomeeting him with sincerity (Jeong-sik Hong, 1973: 83).

Prof. Jeong-bae Mok has given an opinion that among the akya tribe

there seemed to be a kind of idea of Buddha as the idea of Messiah in

Hebrew (Jeong-bae Mok, 1987: 338). Even though Prof. Mok does notmention Cakravartin directly he elucidates clearly that there was already the

ideal of Buddha. When we are reminded of the fact that the idea of

Cakravartin is the counterpart of the idea of Buddha (U. N. Goshal, 1959: 73),

it is possible to consider Prof. Moks claim that there was already the ideal of

Cakravartin with the idea of Buddha in the Age of the Buddha.

Among western scholars, there are many people who support this idea.

Varma made it clear that the idea of Cakravartin was formed before the

Aoka Age; he asserted that king Aoka was influenced by the political

thought of Buddhism, and tried to model himself on Cakravartin

(Vishwanath Prasad Varma, 1973: 350). According to Varma, in Aitareya

Brahma!a the ideal of Cakravartin was formalized at first, then thereaccumulated more abundant meanings and contents with the Buddhas

missionary movement. He reasserted that the Buddhas positive missionary

movement influenced the activities of the kings in his time indirectly as

Zoroasters ethical movement stimulated the political passions of the Persian

kings (Ibid., 350-351). Jan Gonda, Charles Drekmeire and John S. Strong also


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thought that the idea of Cakravartin could be traced back to at least the 10thcentury B.C., and this idea was treated as very important especially in

Buddhism but later by other non-Buddhistic areas too (John S. Strong, 1989:

350). On the other hand, there is the claim that the idea of universal

monarchy took place in the fourth or third millenniums B.C. before the

invasion of Aryans (Heirich Zimmer, 1959: 134).

I would like to examine the bases on which those scholars depend, and

whether their grounds of argumentation are valid. The bases of the assertion

are generally divided into four kinds.

Firstly, most of them have relied on the orthodox scriptures of

Buddhism, especially on the Stras in Early Buddhism of which the most

representative is Stra of the Practice of the King Cakravartin, in the fifth

volume of Chinese gamas. A typical paragraph in this Stra follows:

Once upon a time, there was a king named D#3hasati. Heoriginally belonged to the caste of k4atriya who had the custom ofbaptism. He could have become the Cakravartin, and governed all ofthe world. In that time, he most flexibly administered his territory andinstructed his people with the law of virtue. He was the most superiorone among all men, and was possessed of seven kinds of treasure (T. 139b).

Further to this, we can enumerate additional Stras of great importance

as follows: in Chinese sources, Chang--han-ching Vol.15; Vol.18; Chung--han-ching Vol.11; Vol.41; Tsa--han-ching Vol.27, and in Pli literatures

especially in Chang--han-ching, 17., 26., 30., and in Chung--han-ching,

B2lapa!3ita Sutta and so on.

The second basis is the legend of the stargazers prophecy in the

biography of the Buddha. A representative paragraph is the following:

Thus, if one who has 32 kinds of noble characteristics will stay athome, then he will be Cakravartin. And if he will renounce the worldlylife, then he will be the great master instructing gods and people byattaining the wisdom that can know all the knowledge, called sarva-jna (T. 3, Kuo-ch-hsien-yin-kuo-ching, 627b).

References with the same meaning are found in other various scriptures

(Dong-wha Kim, 1973: 36).

Thirdly, we can note the idea of Past Buddha. Buddhism and Jainism do

not consider the Buddha or the Vardhamna as the only Buddha or Jina,

since in Buddhism the Buddha is the seventh Buddha and in Jainism

Vardhamna is the twenty fourth Jina. Moreover, examining the rescript in


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the Nigl Sgar inscription, we can find that king Aoka extended the stupaof Konagamana Buddha, who is believed to be the fifth Buddha, to double

size.

Lastly, we can find further evidence in other literature. For example, the

fifth chapter in Suttanipata, titled Pryanavagga, said the following:

In all kinds of Vedas, we can find the 32 kinds of characteristics of thegreatest sage and those are successively explained one by one. ............ Ifhe will stay at home, then, he will conquer the whole earth and governwithout the arms.3

On the other hand, the names of Cakravartin can be found in Maitr6

Upani4ad (S. Radhakrishnan, 1968: 797). There would appear to be definite

evidence in the four reasons mentioned above, for the assertion that the idea

of Cakravartin was established before the Buddhas birth. But some

problems are found when we interpret and treat these sources with an

analytical understanding on the history of Buddhist scriptures and with a

text-critical method.

As already known, since the Buddhas Age, the scriptures of Buddhism

have been handed down not in written form but by recitation from memory.

The tradition of recitation did not arise in Buddhism, rather it was the

general culture of ancient India. Brahmanism, which has a longer history

than Buddhism at least by one millenium, had the tradition of recitationbecause of various reasons. 4 Even though the general view is that the

Buddhist scriptures were established in written form through the third

congregation or sa8g6ti patronized by the king Aoka, this view lacks

evidence. Nowadays, the most persuasive view is that they were first

3 gatni hi mantesu mah2puru4alak4a!a dvatti8 s2 ca vy2khy2t2 samatt2 an

upubbaso (PTS., Suttanipata, p.193). Originally in the Korean version of this article,

I accept the translation by an eminent Korean monk, Beob-Jeong sunim. However,

in this sentence, the word mantesu is the locative case of the word manta which

means incantation, scripture or vedas. Therefore, I think that it would be betterto change the expression all kinds of vedas into merely various vedas or vedas.

4 Ggen, Mizuno, Kyoten: Sono Seiritzuto Denkey [Stras, Its Establishment and

Development], Tokyo: Ksei Publishing Company, 1990, p.109. Ancient Indians

believed that the written book could be stolen by thieves or burned by fire.

Furthermore they opposed to write the scriptures down because it could be taught

to the untouchables.


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In the period of the later Vedas, though there is no evidence that areally large Indian kingdom existed at the time, the possibility of arealm reaching to the sea was recognized, perhaps as a result of whatIndians had heard of Babylonia or Persia. With the Mauryas thepossibility was realized, and though they were soon almost forgotten,they left behind them the concept of the Universal Emperor(Cakravartin), which was incorporated into Buddhist tradition, andblended with later Vedic imperialistic ideas, was taken over byorthodox Hinduism (A. L. Basham, 1991: 84).

Here Basham emphasizes that the idea of Cakravartin was established

no earlier than the Mauriya Dynasty. Nakamura also says:

Among Buddhists and Jains the idea of Cakravartin wascolored by the mystic and religious atmosphere, in a laterperiod it was cognized as the mythological figure havingimportant meaning. The legend that this ideal emperor willgovern all of India was definitely established after theunification of Mauriya Dynasty, thus did not appear in thescriptures of Buddhism and Jainism (Hajime Nakamura, 1969:192-193).

If it is so, what is the problem with this assertion?

As the basis of his argument, Basham mentioned two factors; one is the

fact that there had never been an immense territory before the MauriyaDynasty. The other is the ideal which appeared in Cakkavatti Shanda

Suttantta. But Bashams view cannot be a final one, since it is possible that

the ancient Indians could have dreamed of that kind of Great Empire

without any historical experience. As Basham himself announced, Cakkavatti

Shanda Suttantta could have influenced king the Aoka as much as his

image influenced the idea of Cakravartin (A. L. Basham, 1991, 84). Therefore,

Basham failed in establishing a strong basis.

Nakamura also noted two reasons. The first is that there is no idea of

Cakravartin in the earlier scriptures both of Buddhism and Jainism. And the

second is that the idea of Cakravartin in Kalpa Stra of Jainism is strongly

opposed to Brahmanism (JS, SBE 22, 1909: 225). This reflects the fact that theidea was established after the Age of Kautilya, the prime minister of

Mauriya Dynasty, because in his Age Brahmanism had held hegemony in

various fields.

I cannot agree to the first reason; Suttanipata, one of the representative

scriptures in the Early Buddhism, already contained the idea of Cakravartin


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(SP, Chapt. 3,7., Ver. 548-553). Specifically in the fifth chapter, we can findthe paragraph:

In the Vedas, there are 32 kinds of characteristics of a perfectlygreat figure. And those are explained successively.

For the second reason, I think that there might be some problems in

interpretation, since the hegemony of Brahmanism had a long history.

Therefore, we can consider Kalpa Stra as reflecting the situation of Post-

Kautilya Age, and at the same time, as reflecting that of the Buddha Age. In

that point Nakamura also has some weak points.

III. Provisional ConclusionThis article has examined two kinds of conflicting theories relating to

the origin of Cakravartin: the theory of the Pre-Buddha Age and the theory

of the Post-Aoka Age. Above all I would like to give more credit to the

former, but in the former not all problems are solved because there remain

problems of detail as it is again divided into three views; 1) the very time of

the Buddha, 2) one millennium B.C. and 3) 4th and 3rd millenniums B.C.

With regard to these views, I think that the first is most persuasive.

There are four reasons for this. First, the Age of the Buddha is the Age of

many social confusions and the authority of religions was breaking downdue to political and economical transition from a tribal nation to a

centralized kingdom. So many people were waiting for the great political

and religious leader to appear. Second, I would like to note that there is a

possibility of coexistence between the idea of Jina and that of Cakravartin

because a tacit presupposition is needed to account for the flourishing of

sama!a cultures in that time. The third reason is that 32 kinds of

characteristics of the great figure are found in the earlier scriptures such as

Suttanipata. The last argument is that Cakravartin is mentioned in some non-

Buddhist literatures such asMaitr6 Upani4ad.

Nevertheless, I feel the need to modify it with the theory of the Post-

Aoka Age. Having mentioned the relationship between the doctrine of

gamas and the Aoka Dharma, Nikki Kimura says the following:

In these scriptures, there are not only the earlier layers whichinfluenced the doctrine of Aoka Dharma but also the later layerswhich appeared on the basis of Aokas religious movement (NikkiKimura, 1985: 63).


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Probably, this view might be applied to the problem of Cakravartin. In

other words, the archetype of Cakravartin was formed in the Buddhas Age

and it had greatly influenced the king Aoka; and conversely, after Aokas

Age it was inspired and developed by the Aokas political and religious

activities as a model. We can, in fact, find that the later scriptures, to which

the idea of Cakravartin belongs, were developed gradually. My provisional

conclusion, therefore, is that the factors in the Buddhas Age and those in the

Aokas Age have developed from interaction.

Glossary of Chinese Terms

Chang--han-ching Chung--han-ching Tsa--han-ching

References

T Taish Shinshu DaizokyoJS. Jaina Stras, Sacred Books of the East Vol.22, Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1909

SP. Suttanipata

A. L. Basham(1991) The Wonder That was India, Calcutta: Rupa.Dong-whaKim(1973)

Pulgyo-i-kukkakwan[ : The Thought of

State in Buddhism], Pulgyo-hakbo[ : Journal ofBuddhist Studies], Vol.10, Seoul: Institute of BuddhistCulture, Dongguk University.

HajimeNakamura(1969)

Shyu-kyo-to Shya-kai-rin-ri[ : Religion andSocial Ethics], Tokyo: Iwanami Publishing Company.

Hee-seong Kil(1984) Indo-chlhaksa[ : The History of IndianPhilosophy], Seoul: Mineumsa Publishing Co..

HeirichZimmer(1959)

Philosophies of India, New York: Meridian Books Inc..

Jae-chang Lee(1982) Pulgyo-kyngjn-kaesl[ : Introduction toBuddhist Scriptures], Seoul: Institute of ScriptureTranslation, Dongguk University.


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Jeong-bae Mok(1987) Mirk-sinang-i-hyndaechk-imi[ :The Modern Meaning of Maitreya Faith], Hanguk-

mirk-sasang-yngu[: The Studies of MaitreyaThought in Korea], Seoul: Institute of BuddhistCulture, Dongguk University.

Jeong-sikHong(1973)

Pulgyo-i-chngchi-sasang[ : The PoliticalThought of Buddhist Culture, Dongguk University.

John S. Strong (1989) The Legend of KingA$oka, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Nikki Kimura (1985) Akaouto Indoshish[The King Aoka and the Thought of

India], Tokyo: Education Publishing Center.S.Radhakrishnan(1968)

The Principal Upanisads, London: George Allen &Unwin Ltd..

U. N . Goshal(1959) History of Indian Political Ideas, London: OxfordUniversity Press.

Vishwanath PrasadVarma(1973)

Early Buddhism and Its Origins, New Delhi:Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.

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Vol01_08_Kyoung-joon Park